A seedy party atmosphere has erupted outside the home of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann – with one woman even bringing her pet pig to join in the ghoulish festivities.
Stunned neighbors of the suspected murderer say they feel like they are living ‘in a true crime documentary’ as large crowds have flocked to the sleepy street.
Mackenzie Richards, 29, from Boston, said she and her pig Stella were on their way to visit her mom in New York when she heard about the killer’s arrest, and she immediately began ‘looking, looking, looking’ to rush to his home.
‘Next thing you know, here we are,’ she said while dozens of beer-swigging true crime fans partied on the street around her.
The bizarre scenes came the day after Heuermann, 59, was arrested in midtown Manhattan for the grisly murders, around an hour’s drive from his home in Massapequa Park, New York.
Mackenzie Richards (left) brought her pet pig Stella to join the seedy party atmosphere with her mom Monica Richards (center) and her boyfriend James Sweeney (right)
Huge crowds have flocked to Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park to catch a glimpse of the suspected serial killer’s haunt
Manhattan architect Rex Heuermann, 59, is charged with three murders attributed to the Gilgo Beach serial killer, and is the prime suspect in a fourth victim’s murder
Neighbors described the suspected serial killer as a quiet family man, who could often be seen tinkering in his garage while keeping to himself.
Many also said the house he shared with his wife and daughter was ‘terrifying’, with one local feeling the derelict property resembles a ‘dungeon’.
Tara and Tom Stafford, who have lived in the Massapequa Park neighborhood for 45 years, told DailyMail.com they ‘always felt like (his home) was creepy’.
‘We are shocked this happened,’ they added, expressing concern that the gruesome killings could give the wholesome neighborhood a grim reputation.
While many were distressed by the grisly killings, the modern fascination with true crime led Tara Alonso, who lives in the neighborhood, to describe the scene as ‘so cool’.
‘I have an adrenaline rush just watching all this happening, never saw something like this before,’ she said.
Alonso, who works at Whole Foods in Massapequa, revealed she had a bizarre run-in with the killer several months ago.
She claims he stole oranges from the store’s kid’s club, where parents leave their children while they shop. When he was confronted by staff, she says he responded: ‘If I was wearing a suit like I wear most days, you wouldn’t be talking to me like this.’
Bonnie Petrone (left) described the suspected serial killer’s home as a ‘dungeon’. She is pictured with her daughter Aliyah (center) and a friend
Michelle Lombardi and Angelina Flaherty said the accused murder seemed like a ‘normal dad’
Thanks to the suspected serial killer’s towering 6ft 6in frame, many in the local area had seen him around, although most said he was a loner and who gave off a ‘creepy’ vibe to others.
Michelle Lombardi, a real estate broker who sells homes in the neighborhood, said it was ‘disturbing’ to know the killer may have been in the area for decades.
‘This is a great community where everyone comes together for one another, it’s just really unfortunate,’ she said.
Her daughter Angela Flaherty, 22, said he ‘seemed like a normal dad’, and would see him at school soccer matches as his daughter was a few grades ahead of her in high school.
However, she added that his house looks ‘terrifying’, and she often wondered who the infamous Gilgo Beach killer was as the murders were so close to home.
She continued: ‘It’s really scary. As a local resident a lot of us would drive on the Ocean Parkway for fun and we always wondered if the Gilgo Beach serial killer was out there.
‘I also wondered where he lives. There’s a lot of little houses on Gilgo Beach and I always wondered if one of those little houses on the marsh was the serial killers.’
The suspect’s house sits directly north of Gilgo Beach across the South Oyster Bay, around 25-minutes from where the remains were found
Forensics teams working at Heuermann’s home on Friday. A freezer was among items seized
Neighbors said the killer was a quiet family man who lived in a run-down derelict home with his wife and daughter that resembled a ‘dungeon’
Bonnie Petrone, 57, a schoolteacher in New York City, said the situation was ‘chilling’, not least because Heuerman graduated high school with her sister.
‘I wouldn’t expect anything like this happening in our small town,’ she said. Petrone also remarked that his crumbling home left much to be desired, adding: ‘He was an architect, but his house looks like a dungeon.’
Her daughter Aliyah, 24, said she was obsessed with the Gilgo Beach murders when she was growing up, as they occurred when she was around 11 years old.
‘It feels like I’m watching a true crime documentary and am in it,’ she said.
Neighbor Patricia DeVilliers said: ‘Who expects to wake up on a Friday morning and find out their next-door neighbor is a serial killer?’
She echoed many as she described them as ‘quiet’, and said the family would keep to themselves and never throw any parties.
Shocked locals headed to Massapequa Park to catch a glimpse of the ‘creepy’ home
A large police presence has placed a barrier around the home, which is around 25-minutes from where the victims remains were found
Neighbors expressed concern that the gruesome killings could ruin the wholesome reputation of their sleepy community
Bob Vernon, 58, said he drove from his home in nearby Wantagh to catch a glimpse of the suspect’s house because he was ‘curious’.
‘He’s an architect but they said his house looks like garbage,’ he said, adding that his brother-in-law went to school with Heuermann and he described him as a ‘strange guy’.
Rex Heuermann is shown in one of his Tinder profile pictures. Police tracked the fictitious email account he used on the profile and his burner phone number to the case
Heuermann’s truck was removed from the home Friday afternoon
Investigators revealed Friday that they moved to arrest Heuermann over fears that the suspected murderer could strike again.
Cops had Heuermann under surveillance since last year, and had planned to continue to follow him as they built their case, but decided to swoop in and make the arrest in the interest of ‘public safety,’ Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told reporters.
Tierney cited a number of red flags, saying that Heuermann ‘continued to patronize sex workers,’ was using false IDs and burner phones, and had permits for an astonishing 92 firearms.
‘Which of course made us very nervous,’ said Tierney, who has led a secret investigative task force focused on Heuermann since the spring of 2022.
Flanked by family members of the victims as he addressed reporters, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison delivered a grim assessment of the suspect, saying: ‘Rex Heuermann is a demon that walks among us, a predator that ruined families.’
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Heuermann had been under surveillance since last year, and cops moved in to arrest him over fears he would strike again
Questions have been raised over why it took investigators so long to finally snare the alleged killer after over a decade at large.
He has been named as the prime suspect in the murder of Maureen Brainar-Barnes, and is also being investigated for the murders of another six women found dead near the beach in 2011.
Ahead of his appearance, prosecutors released their bombshell evidence against him that includes;
- His wife’s DNA was found on three of the victims’ bodies
- One of his own hairs was found on one of the victims’ bodies
- Cell phone calls made from a burner phone to the victims were traced to his office
- A call made to one of the victims’ sisters after she died was traced to his office
- His Tinder profile with photos of him was linked to the burner phone
- His Chevrolet pick-up truck was seen by witness to one victim’s disappearance
- He matches description of ‘ogre’ like man seen with one victim before she vanished
- Heuermann conducted graphic searches for child porn and images of women being sexually abused
- He also searched Google for updates on the case, searching ‘why could law enforcement not trace the calls made by the long island serial killer’
